CEN-SAD - Free Movement of Persons

Based on article 1 of the Treaty Establishing CEN-SAD, free movement of people is a core objective of this regional economic community. It stipulates that the same rights, advantages and obligations granted to a member State’s own citizens should be applied to nationals of the signatory countries, in conformity with the provisions of their respective constitutions. Implementation of the specific objective has been stagnant, but a number of CEN-SAD member States have been increasingly liberalizing their policies and have successfully implemented schemes to foster the intraregional movement of people. The primary reason for the success is overlapping memberships with ECOWAS that are far along in liberalizing cross-border mobility restrictions.